That's not a comforting way to start the new year if you're a sysadmin at CNN or any other news outlet. It's hard to tell how serious the threat is, but the fact that it's included in a a Joint Intelligence Bulletin of the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security doesn't bode well. The bulletin points to a December 20 Pastebin post where a group identifying themselves as GOP—or Guardians of Peace—taunt the FBI and a link to a YouTube video called "you are an idiot!" Screenshots exist of a similar taunt directed towards CNN, and apparently federal authorities consider this a threat.

Of course, this does not mean that anybody hacked into Wolf Blitzer's email. The GOP probably would've bragged about it if they had. As The Intercept points out, U.S. news organisations are often targets of hackers, especially state-sponsored hackers. Heck, The New York Times was hacked by China for months.

It's probably safe to say that the FBI, news organisations, and the cybersecurity teams at all kinds of other organisations will remain on high alert for the coming months. And rightly so. Hackers had a field day this year. It would be pretty idiotic not to try to stop them next year.